Are England rubbish again? After all the wonder of the early part of the summer the Three Lions loss to Spain in the Nations League means they've now lost their last three games. Perhaps Gareth Southgate isn't the one after all.
If you're only as good as your last game then the England boss has failed to inspire his team recently. First there was the loss against Croatia, from a leading position, then the loss to Belgium in the third and fourth place play-off and then last night's loss to Spain, again from a leading position.
If inspiration is what the players need, especially at half-time, then perhaps we should go back to the last man before Southgate to lead us to a semi-final, Mike Bassett. There's a man who knew how to give a half time team talk:
England's World Cup under Bassett may have included some farcical moments, a fight with his assistant manager, hooliganism and a loss to Mexico but it also had a run to the semi-finals and wins over Argentina and France.
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The current side matched the achievement of getting to the last four of the tournament in Russia in the summer just gone but one thing lacking for Southgate's men was a win against one of the big sides.
In all seriousness England did fantastic in the summer during the World Cup and surprised most people to reach the semi-final, where they met a very good Croatia side.
They were a bit lucky that the draw opened up for them but previous England sides failed to beat sides of similar or easier opposition to the ones that they succeeded against this time round.
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Two losses to Belgium and the loss to Croatia, plus losing to Spain on Saturday night proves that against the best sides the Three Lions still need to improve.
England were a little unlucky last night. After Marcus Rashford put them ahead he did have a chance to level the scores at 2-2 late on and Danny Welbeck was probably a little harsh to have a decision go against him for a foul on David de Gea.
Will Southgate's tenure continue to get better or will it all go a bit Mike Bassett?
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football News, Nations League, England, Gareth Southgate, World Cup, Spain
